August 1, 2009

The first Saturday in August Paul was able to take most of the day off of work, so our whole family was treated to a day out!

We decided to visit a tourist attraction near our house called Glacier Gardens. Basically, a decade or two ago a guy who was cleaning up some of his recently purchased acreage had the idea to replant some dead trees (from a mudslide) upside down, with their roots hanging over the top, and plant flowers in them. The result is pretty interesting to see and we enjoyed our tour of the gardens.

Inside the visitor’s center

An eagles’ nest up in a tree

Our little treehugger
View of part of Juneau from boardwalk at around 600 ft.



The main attractions






After lunch and a rest for the boys we drove out to Echo Cove for some salmon fishing! Paul had had a couple opportunities already to go fishing, so I took a turn. I was disappointed at first because the only thing biting was the seaweed, but after a few minutes the fish started biting like crazy!


Benjamin and Rhett were troopers while I was catching fish. We spread a blanket on the ground, but despite having no shoes, Rhett preferred to walk around the rocky, barnacle covered beach, filling his mouth with rocks as he went. Both boys were captivated by the fish splashing in the bucket after they were caught.



After an hour or so I came away with my limit of six big salmon, and a bit of a sore arm!

Black Bears

While in Juneau I wanted to see bears and whales, more than any other animal. Luckily for me I have gotten to see quite a few of both. I've seen ten different bears at this point. Below are a few of the most recent photos.

What a photo, huh!!?! I was pretty excited to get this one! This bear was hiding in the meadow grasses to the left. I didn't see him until just after three large brillantly red sockeye salmon started flopping in the shallow creek. Suddenly the bear jumped up out of the meadow and barged into the stream. He got his salmon! (Click on the photo.) I now have a new appreciation for how fast bears are.

See the salmon? So does the bear. I count at least three which are noticeably visible.

No zoom on this photo!

This was a little too close for me!

Those two cubs were really cute!

Priceless

One pink Mepps Flying-C lure: $5.00

One "Nonresident" Alaska One-day Fishing License: $20.00

Driving 25 Minutes in a Ford F150 Truck: $5.00 (that's a guess...)

Tending your two sons at a rocky beach, one sucking on rocks while the other is throwing rocks: $0.00

Watching your sweetheart catch her limit in salmon, (within an hour): PRICELESS.

Way-to-go Love!

(1 Aug. 2009)